Velo Cult in Portland Oregon is winding down it’s physical brick and mortar. ????. We are devastated. @onion.sauce had just visited in May to meet up with our ex-Shimano dude @kylerudell at one of our favorite places in Oregon (and that’s saying a lot). The story about the closing was just posted on The Radavist website and includes a press release. What is so sad, frustrating and awful is that Sky / Velo Cult has done everything right. Culturally phenomenal place, best people, unique, clean, best in class and the operation is more than bikes branching out to other sources of income. They put on events in their amazing space. We witnessed it the day we were there. So so wrong this is happening. To us the culprit is commercial real estate conglomerates. They convince local town councils to codify commercial property until its impossible to afford keeping up to code and small businesses can’t survive. Not owning the property and having to upgrade in order to meet requirements isn’t financially possible for Velo Cult and we are witness to another amazing place and guy wind down his incredible bike business. The saddest part is for all of us who won’t be able to go there for the exquisite pour over coffee, a bike, or a beer. Sky (the owner) will be fine. He will move on to new great things. It’s the rest of us who have enjoyed his space who lose out. We said it before when our local paper In Topanga was shutting down and we lost a community’s independent voice. Be selfish and go into small businesses. Razor thin margins and impossibly long hours by the owners are what keep them around and we need them. We want to enjoy the uniqueness and awesomeness of local papers and places like Velo Cult but they can’t survive without us. Go to local coffee houses, diners, bookstores, restaurants, clothing stores and any quirky place around. Be selfish and take advantage of the what’s happening. We will be so sad when it’s all gone. #velocult
